Phylogenetic affinities and inter‐island differentiation in the Vitelline Warbler Dendroica vitellina, a West Indian endemic

Abstract

The Vitelline Warbler Dendroica vitellina is endemic to the Cayman Islands and Swan Islands in the West Indies. This study examined the phylogenetic affinities of the Vitelline Warbler and assessed mitochondrial differentiation among the three Cayman Island populations. Species‐level phylogenetic analyses based on 3639 nucleotides of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence were used to place the Vitelline Warbler in the larger Dendroica radiation. These analyses confirmed that the Vitelline Warbler is the sister taxon of the Prairie Warbler Dendroica discolor, a species that breeds in continental North America. The magnitude of mitochondrial differentiation between these sister taxa (2.4%) supports their current classification as separate taxonomic species. Additional comparisons based on the 1041‐nucleotide NDII gene sequence from 26 Vitelline Warblers provided evidence of within‐species genetic structure. NDII haplotypes from Grand Cayman vs. Cayman Brac/Little Cayman differed by 6–10 nucleotide substitutions, and no haplotypes were shared among these island groups, supporting the current separation of the Cayman Island populations into two subspecies. These patterns support the biogeographical scenario that the Vitelline Warbler was derived from a mainland population of the Prairie Warbler. This may have occurred due to a loss of migration in ancestral populations or from over‐water dispersal of a mainland resident population.

Colonisation and Diversification of the Zenaida Dove (Zenaida aurita) in the Antilles: Phylogeography, Contemporary Gene Flow and Morphological Divergence

“…The Antilles, and especially LA, colonisation history has been extensively studied for land birds with mtDNA markers, but almost exclusively in passerine species [14] , [15] , [24] – [26] , [28] , [29] , [89] – [91] . These studies showed that there is no unique pattern of colonisation for the West Indies, but instead a huge diversity of patterns, with colonising times being scattered across taxa, with possible multiple colonisations both in space and time and even some islands being the source of continental populations.…”

“…Caribbean bird populations offer a valuable opportunity to study how the Caribbean area was colonized and how genetic and morphological diversity can be structured both historically and through contemporary exchanges. To date, however, colonisation sources have been identified mostly from either North or South American mainland [14] , [24] – [28] . In addition, the existing few studies have essentially relied on mtDNA paired with other markers such as morphometric characters [29] , thus ignoring nuclear variation.…”

Uniform phenotype conceals double colonization by reed‐warblers of a remote Pacific archipelago

“…However, the upper limit of sea distance creating a barrier for gene exchange shows great variation. In the Caribbean, the absence of genetic divergence between two populations of the Vitelline warbler ( Dendroica vitellina , Parulidae) on two islands separated by 8.5 km suggested that this distance over water was not a barrier for these birds, as opposed to the 110‐km separation between these populations and another large island (Markland & Lovette, 2005). The Seychelles white‐eyes ( Zosterops modestus , Zosteropidae) exchanged genes between two 1.6 km‐distanced islands (Rocamora & Richardson, 2003).…”

Full Issue

“…The West Indies, in particular, have served as a focal point for studies of diversification in the wood warblers , Klein et al 2004, Markland and Lovette 2005 and other avian taxa (Bellemain et al 2008, Garrido et al 2009). Within the West Indies, the Bahama Archipelago, which includes the islands of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos ( Furthermore, the Bahamas harbor distinct subspecies among different islands within the archipelago.…”